Hydraulic ram



July 19, 196 TERUICHI YAMAGUCHI ET AL 2,945,447

HYDRAULIC RAM Filed Oct. a, 1956 INVENTORS HYDRAULIC RAM TeruichiYamaguchi, Tokyo, and Isamu Miyazawa, Uedashi, Nagano-ken, Japan,assignors to Chuo Trading Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan Filed Oct. 8, 1956,Ser. No. 614,469

Claims priority, application Japan Aug. 2, 1956 1 Claim. Cl. 103-17 Thepresent invention relates to a hydraulic ram, by which lower level wateris pumped up to a higher level by raising and lowering optionally of thewater level at a drain hole, regulating the quantity of suction airtherefrom and the periodicity of a drain valve motion, and utilizingwater hammer pressure in a valve chamber produced by intercepting waterflow in a penstock.

The invention employs a novel arrangement of an inverted cup-shapedcover member which is fitted with adequate clearance at an end of aU-shaped air pipe inside of a butter tank to which a lifting pipe isconnected, so as to cover the air pipe concentrically, and an elasticspherical lifting valve, in which light gas such as hydrogen, etc. isenclosed, is disposed in the buffer tank.

Various objects of the present invention reside in its simpleconstruction, freedom from troubles, low cost of manufacturing.

Another object of the invention is to maintain the water level in abuffer tank constant and to make the lifting quantity of water constant,under any conditions, as well as to prevent any dust located in thebuffer tank from invading into the air pipe and blocking air holesthereon.

The present invention features in its construction an elastic sphericallifting valve, in which light gas such as hydrogen, etc. is enclosed, tomake it nearly the same specific gravity as the water, as well as aninverted cupshaped cover member which is fitted with adequate clearanceat one end of the U-shaped air pipe that has air holes at its other end.The U-shaped air pipe has an end inside of a butter tank to which alifting pipe is connected, so as to cover the air pipe concentrically,setting the lower edge of the cover member to coincide with the waterlevel in an equilibrium tank in the butter state.

The ram thus equipped is especially useful where no electric main isavailable.

The principle of the present invention will be explained in details asunder, with the aid of the accompanying drawing. In the drawing, Fig. 1is an embodiment of the invention, showing a general layout of thehydraulic ram, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the ram.

The water flows into valve chamber 3 through penstock 2 from thehead-waters 1 and dashes against the drain valve 5 which swings aroundhinge 4 and closes the drain hole 6, then, with its existing pressure,opens the spherical lifting valve 7 and flows into the butter tank 8. Asthe valve 7 is so made that it encloses hydrogen within its sphericalbody and its specific gravity is nearly equal to and barely greater thanwater, at the moment when the pressure in the valve chamber 3 becomesslightly higher than the pressure in the buffer tank 8, the valve 7 willcommence to open the inlet hole 9. After the pressure of flow-in watercomes in equilibrium with the pressure in the tank 8, there beginsasomeback flow of the water and when the pressure in nit States Patent 0the tank 8 becomes higher than that of the flow-in water, the liftingvalve 7 will act with adequate back flow and close the hole 9, so thatthe pressure in the chamber 3 will rapidly become negative owing to theback flow inertia. Then the drain valve 5 will automatically open due tothe negative pressure of the chamber 3 and its own weight. Thus thewater in the drain pool 10 as well as the open air will be suckedsimultaneously into the chamber 3. The drain valve 5 can be adjusted bythe adjusting piece 17 controlling the periodicity of opening andclosing the valve to obtain the highest efficiency of the ram. Outsideof the drain hole 6, there is con nected the drain pool 10.

The water in the buffer tank 8 will be lifted through a lifting pipe 12by means of the flow-in water and the air. For the purpose of increasingthe quantity of lifting water, a U-shaped air pipe 15 of small diameteris arranged in the lifting pipe 12. At the discharge end of the pipe 15,there are opened a number of small air holes 13, and at the other endinside the butter tank, there is fitted an inverted cup-shaped covermember 14 with adequate clearance to cover the pipe 15. Thus, the airentering into the buffer tank 8 will be ejected from the air holes 13 asa number of bubbles, so that the lift of the ram may be increased.According to the experiment of the inventor, the ram action will be comethe more stable, the smaller the bubbles made.

The inverted cup-shaped cover member 14 is fitted at a suitable positionfor the purpose of preventing the dust that entered in the buffer tank8, from invading into the air pipe 15, as well as for lifting smoothlythe water that flows in impulsively. This arrangement will be explainedin details as follows:

When the water level in the butter tank situated at the lower edge ofcover member 14, i.e. at position M, the air pressure and water pressurein the tank are in an equilibrium state, and the floating dusts areintercepted by the lower edge of the cover member 14 and cannot flowinto the air pipe 15.

When the water of the chamber 3 and the air sucked in from the dischargehole 6 flow into the tank by overcoming its internal pressure, it actsto lift the water as well as to press down the water level. But, whenthe pressure in the tank is higher, i.e. the water level reachesposition N, the air flows into the air pipe 15 and ejects small bubblesfrom the air holes 13 which act as to increase the lift, until the waterlevel is raised and reaches the lower edge of the cover member 14. Underthese conditions, there is no fear that the dusts would invade into theair pipe 15, because the water level is lower than the lower edge of thecover member 14.

When the water fiowed into the butter tank by overcoming its internalpressure, is far larger in quantity compared with the suction air, i.e.the water level reaches position L, the dusts are prevented by the airpipe cover member 14 from entering into the air pipe 15, because theyare floating on the surface of water, and the lifting of water iscontinued by the compressed air until the water level reaches position Mto become a stable condition.

As aforementioned, the present invention is so contrived that an elasticspherical valve of measurable motion is used to increase its forwardstroke efiiciency with Various changes and modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention andit is intended that such obvious changes and modifications be embracedby the annexed claims. 1 Having thus descjribed the invention, what isclaimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: A waterpump comprising a penstock for receiving Water at a first level and fordelivering water to a drain pool, said penstock having a valve chamberat an end thereof, a drain hole in said valve chamber, a drain valvepivotally mounted in said valve chamber for closing said drain hole,said drain valve being arranged so, as to be opened by its, own weightand to be closed by flowing water in said penstock, a butter tankpositioned, above said valve chamber, said valve chamber having an inlet15 hole communicating said valve chamber with said butter tank, anelastic spherical lifting valve. disposed in said butter tank forclosing said hole, said lifting valve being filled with a light-weightgas to make the specific gravity of said lifting valve to be barelygreater than water, a lifting pipe extending outwardly from said bulfertank and having a discharge level above said first level, said liftingpipe including an air pipe disposed therein and extending into saidbufier tank, and a cup-shaped air pipe cover within said buifertank andoverlying said air pipe; said cover having a depending portioncoinciding with the water level in said buffer tank when in anequilibrium state.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS942,666 Romstaedt Dec. 7, 1909 1,148,982 l Iicl,1 olas Aug. 3, 19151,285,629 Crowe Nov. 26, 1918 FOREIGN PATENTS 19,186 Switzerland Jan.26, 1900

